Russian troops storm Ukraine base in Crimea

BELBEK: Elite Russian troops firing into the air and backed by armoured vehicles stormed a Ukrainian airbase in Crimea on Saturday as Russia´s defiant march across the rebel peninsula rolled on despite sanctions and growing global isolation.

The dramatic takeover provided the most spectacular show of force since Russia sent its troops into Crimea three weeks ago before formally absorbing the flashpoint peninsula on Tuesday.

It came as the chill in East-West relations intensified with a charge by Germany -- a nation whose friendship Russian President Vladimir Putin had nurtured -- of a Kremlin attempt to "splinter" Europe along Cold War-era lines.

Europe´s most explosive security crisis in decades will now dominate a nuclear security summit that kicks off in The Hague on Monday and will include what may prove the most difficult meeting to date between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The diplomats´ encounter will come with Russia facing the loss of its coveted seat among the G8 group of leading nations and Putin´s inner circle reeling from biting sanctions Washington unleashed for their use of force in response to last month´s fall of a pro-Kremlin regime in Kiev.